On December 27th 2015 (5 months to the day) Cody and I will be saying our farewells to our loved ones at Brisbane International Airport. For those of you who personally know both Cody and I it came as no surprise that we were leaving to see the world. Our plans didn’t include leaving so soon, but they say when you know, you know.

We initially planned to leave in late 2016. We bought our trip forward because we quite simply, could not wait.

We were inspired to book tickets after reading Cody’s sister Mikaela’s novel ‘The Year Abroad’. We were initially commissioned to give her book a read thorugh to make sure it was error free and to provide any feedback as we saw fit. Little did we know it was what we needed to put our butt’s in gear and go and see the world… stat!

I read The Year Abroad first (can I also say it was the first novel I had been able to read in less than a week since I can remember). Cody quickly followed. I remember Cody coming to bed after finishing the book, we could finally talk about the book together (because now I couldn’t accidentally spoil anything). The conversation lasted couple of hours and took us into the early hours of the morning and once we giddily said our goodnights I was still left unable to sleep due to the sheer excitement.

With our initial plan to leave in late 2016 we didn’t have much of a reason to plan just yet. We were waiting to leave after a friend’s wedding as Cody is one of the groomsmen. We thought it just made sense to leave after the celebration.

So our conversation started with maybe we could do a quick holiday before hand to quench the travel thirst. The conversation ended with let’s go this year and come back for the wedding. We figured it would be a good time to catch up with family again before heading back overseas; destination to be decided.

This book ignited a spark for us, we had to book our flights. We had to go this year. We could not wait any longer. I could hardly sit still. I couldn’t Google stuff quick enough. One day later, after a few phone calls to travel agents and hunting for the best deals, we booked a one way ticket with Etihad Airlines. We wanted to spend Christmas and Boxing Day with our families and I wanted to spend New Year’s Eve in our destination so the 27th of December was D-Day (departure day).

We posted the news of our impending departure on Facebook, and then our phones started ringing!

I will write about our destinations and what we have planned so far next time!

Cody and I have always been similar minded in that we have always wanted more than working full time until retirement. This meant that we had to work out a way for us to financially support our lives. Cody always had a keen interest in share trading, despite my little understanding we knew enough to realise to make money through this means you need money to make money. So this ruled out this option at least for now.

One of our many reasons for choosing the House Sitting life, is to allow us to save money. At the time, we weren’t really saving for anything in particular, but as the months unfolded so too did our opportunities. In short, we have now booked a ticket each to London and plan to live in Europe for the majority of 2016. So I guess you could say the suitcase and I need to get used to each other. House Sitting has become a training bootcamp for keep possessions on the low and the end goal is more than enough to motivate me.

I went from living in a quaint two bedroom apartment in a Brisbane inner suburb to a life on the road with not much more than the car I drive and a suitcase of possessions. Before you ask, this was a choice. In no way was this a situation I forced into. Good bye to my perfectly arranged colour scheme and my beloved dining chairs (I seriously love my chairs).